SEV issues budget warning

The Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) blasted the 2019 draft budget on Thursday as having "limited growth prospects," saying in its weekly bulletin that it lacks a business-friendly policy mix.

The industrialists' mouthpiece also accused the government of constantly depriving the private economy of resources through overtaxation, stressing that the planned reduction in the tax-free ceiling could finance a mix of social security contribution reductions and an increase in tax rebates to families with children.

"The first enhanced surveillance report by the European Commission after the end of the bailout programs generates concern as well as worries in the capital markets, which Greece will have to resort to sooner or later to renew the low-interest loans of the creditors when they mature," SEV noted.

The federation added that the failure to attain the right...